Melltith Byddar
by Kedern
Summary: The team is called for another anomaly. A boy goes missing. A stubborn brunette young woman is doing everything she can to find him.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to everyone reading this story!**

**Ok, so, this is my second 'long' fic about Primeval, and I can't help but put Jess as heroine. Again. I don't know why, she seems the type.**

**Anyway, there should not be any spoiler, and can be placed anytime during the fourth season.**

**Unlike _'Draig_ _Cryf'_, this story is not entirely written as of now, so don't expect the same update rate as for the first story. This story is also (hopefully) shorter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval nor any of its characters and universe. I only own the plot (100% this time, I hope).**

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><p>"…and that's exactly how I discovered it!" Connor finished, obviously excited.<p>

Abby hummed in approval, but was more interested in curing the latest addition to her menagerie. He knew that noise.

"You didn't hear a word of what I was saying, right?" the young scientist accused after a moment's consideration.

"Connor, I tried to listen to you" _Sort of_, she admitted to herself "but that's the twelfth time – yes, I counted – that you've told me this story! I could narrate now, with all the dramatic sighs at all the good spots, just as well as you do."

"I know but that's just so-"

"-amazing yadda yadda yadda," the blond snorted, slightly exasperated at the distraction by now. "Connor, don't you have actual work to do?".

"There's nothing fun about watching the ADD all day long," he pouted.

"I don't see Jess getting bored with it. You know, she goes back through reports, checking CCTV and all those nice things that keep things livable around here…"

"But she's a perfectionist!" Was the young man's whine.

Finally, she snapped. Abby stopped what she was doing to turn and glare at Connor properly.

"No, she's not, she just _thinks_, unlike some people around here."

"When Becker's not around" Connor muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look," Connor slipped on a easy smile, ready to change the topic as soon as possible, "there's no anomaly, so I can spend time with you. Isn't that great? We don't seem to find time otherwise…"

Abby couldn't help but roll her eyes at his childish antics.

"We do too find time. But right now, we're at work, which means you have to go back to the ADD before an anomaly does happen while I do my job," she said firmly before dropping into an affectionate croon as she looked back at her charges, "which is looking after these angels. Understand?"

"Alright" Connor relented with as little grace as he could manage.

Jess had the day off, so Connor, poor Connor, was on ADD duty. Even if, he wouldn't really have missed an opportunity to go through the ADD, try all the settings before, and push a lot of buttons, he had found that talking with Abby was way more interesting. Now that diversion had been forbidden, though, he made his way toward the big computer, slouching into his seat with a scowl. Matt and Becker were nowhere in sight, most likely off to some training or going through the armory supply. Not fair.

Taking Abby's advice, he began to search through CCTV cameras looking for potential blackmail material, if possible against a certain soldier. Or anything interesting, really.

The alarm caught him in the middle of a yawn, startling him out of the digital-daze brought on by _hours_ of finding nothing. Still, it didn't take long for him to snap to attention.

"There's an anomaly. Heddon Street right in the middle of London."

"Coordinates?" Matt asked behind him, retrieving the nearest black box.

"Already sent."

"Alright, I want Becker and the six guys on call with us going now!" The team leader barked. "Let's move!"

Connor watched on the internal CCTV cameras as the soldiers retrieved their weapons and geared up before sprinting for the cars.

"Connor, see if you can find any CCTV's close enough to tell us what we're getting into here" was the sharp order passed over his earpiece.

"Matt, I'm not Jess, but I'm not dumb either," he retorted, clearly offended.

Matt scoffed riling Connor just a little more.

"We sure can't mistake the both of you." The geek bit his tongue on his witty reply and forced himself to focus on his job.

"There's nothing on the inside and the streets are empty," he informed their fearless leader. "No sign of incursion."

"Alright then-"

"There are people inside, Matt. Children. Lots of them actually" the scientist added quickly as fresh CCTV footage opened on his screen.

The Irishman swore, making Connor wonder how many docks he'd been hanging out on recently.

"Right, priority to evacuation without panic. What do you know about all this?"

"I'm still searching but I'm not finding anything-"

"We're there anyway," Matt cut him off. "Keep checking the outside in case of incursion. Damn! The bloody door's locked!"

Connor watched as a figure in the townhouse drifted toward the door, apparently drawn by the racket. The woman looked very young, maybe in her twenties, her black, slick hair framing her face. Matt caught sight of her after a minute, too, through the frosted windows in the door.

"Ma'am, could you open the door, please?" The team leader asked, voice as calm as he wasn't. He didn't want to scare her.

Through the little windows, he could see the blank expression. She had no idea what he was saying. He wanted to swear again, but couldn't risk that being all she understood from him.

"Ma'am, it is very important that you let us enter now" he said slowly, hoping his tone would at least get through. Maybe it did, but instead of helping, he watched her eyes grow wide as she shook her head in near frantic disagreement.

She shot him one last panicky look before retreating into what seemed to be the main room.

Matt and one of the soldiers tried to force the door open, in vain.

Suddenly, they heard an irritated voice from the building, approaching fast.

"… I _swear God_ this is the last time you are ever so much as setting foot on this street, if I have to break every bone in your body and dumb you in some back alley. You have until the count of three before I'm gonna call the cops, and if you so much as-"

It wasn't until the shape attached to the voice got close enough to see out the windows, to see it who it was that was camping on her doorstep, that the angry rant broke off, leaving both her and the soldiers to gape at each other, dumbfounded.

"Jess?"

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><p><strong>AN : I'm sorry this is very very very short, and doesn't make much sense so far. This story should be shorter than my first one.<strong>

**04-17-2011: Update: I would like to thank a lot my US friend who spent a lot of time editing this chapter (I'd never seen that much red on one of my works before she edited the chapter) and who turned it very differently (for the best). I'm amazed at her work! I must admit that more than half of this chapter had been rewritten by her, thus half of these words are _her_ words, not mine.  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Jess was really enjoying her day off. It had been so long since she had had the opportunity to take a break and do what she wanted to do.

The children around her were amazing, they were so curious about everything and excited to learn about each other and what was around them. Though she preferred being with the little ones, she liked having more sensible conversations with teenagers.

And above all, it had been so long she had signed.

She was immersing herself in a world she knew all-too-well, but that she longed to be in. Her activities with the A.R.C. didn't leave her much free time to be able to show up during these little gatherings, during which she was eager to help.

The room was full of children, from five to seventeen, if she wasn't counting herself and the other aides. There was no word spoken, only arms and hands doing the talking.

Once every two Saturdays, the Plentyn Byddar Center was organizing meetings like this one, where deaf and hard-of-hearing children could enjoy spending a whole day without being afraid not to understand what people around them were saying. The idea had been suggested a few years ago, parents complaining that their children were often kept apart from the main group of children, often without any mean thought, just that it was not easy for hearing people to adapt to them. Sure, within the center, this policy was already in motion, considering it was a specialized association for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, focusing on their needs, as they were growing up, about education to give them all the necessary tools to deal with the outside world. But the center was closed-up, letting in only deaf and hard-of-hearing people, as a bubble keeping them from the outside world. The idea was to organize gatherings like this outside the center, allowing hearing people, if they wanted, to enter as long as they agreed to adapt, and not the contrary. The rule was that no word was to be spoken, under no circumstance.

Unfortunately, this day's location for the meeting had not been that smart thought: wanting to keep the children more _in touch_ with all aspects of the _outside_ world, and particularly, spread the deaf culture to any kind of environment, they had decided to hold it in what can be called a 'problem area', to encourage teenagers there to open up to a new world themselves. Wishful thinking. Ever since the beginning of the day, Jess and the aides had to push away groups of teenagers wanting nothing but to disturb the gathering. Though the aides tried to integrate them, it was clear their intention was not to understand, but to piss off everyone in there. The aides sent them off, but they only went back over and over again. And seeing Vili's panicked look – short for Velislava, one of her favorite aides – Jess could only guess that she would have to scare them off again. For the seventh time.

"Can't they just leave us in peace?" she exclaimed while signing, showing her anger to the younger woman. "Seriously, sometimes, I want to go and teach them a good lesson about life." She stomped towards the entrance. "Don't you get tired of this?" she directed those last words to the intruders. "I _swear God_ this is the last time you are ever so much as setting foot on this street, if I have to break every bone in your body and dumb you in some back alley. You have until the count of three before I'm gonna call the cops, and if you so much as-"

And she cut herself short. In front of her were Matt, Becker, and reinforcement. Armed with EMDs. And not looking happy.

"Jess?" finally asked Matt, as surprised as she was.

Alright. Matt. Becker. Soldiers. EMDs. Despite the shock, Jess was lucid enough to understand there was an anomaly nearby.

She recovered and opened the door, but blocked the entrance with her body.

"Jess?"

"Look, stop me if I'm wrong. There's an anomaly in the building and a possible incursion." Matt nodded. "I'll describe you the situation on my side: there's a room, full of children, who will be scared as hell as soon as you enter this building with weapons at hand. I want you to let me handle the situation, and get everyone out without panic."

"Jess, we've already handled such situations before" argued the team leader.

"But not with people you can't communicate properly with."

In front of his puzzled expression, she explained.

"There are are only two hearing people in this building, including me. Children and other aides are deaf, or hard-of-hearing. You barging in the room waving guns around is bound to cause havoc. You have to let me handle this" she pleaded.

Eyes widening at the news, Matt nodded.

"You have five minutes."

Jess didn't waste time in replying. Instead, she turned back to Vili who had followed her, and asked her to gather the children.

*We have to check if everyone is with us, and then lead them outside* she signed.

*Why? What's happening?* the other woman signed back, worried.

*The neighboring zoo has reported an animal on the loose. Of the dangerous kind. According to other reports, it is possible that it has entered the building. These people here are to check and neutralize it before returning it to the zoo* the brunette explained.

Vili seemed suspicious.

*Please, it is very important to do so. For the children's sakes.*

At that, the woman walked back into the main room, followed closely by Jess. The latter used the lights, flashing them on and off to get everybody's attention. She then jumped on a table to be seen.

*I am very sorry, but we will have to cut short this day. I will ask all children to gather around their respective aide and follow their instructions. We have to leave the building as soon as possible. There is absolutely no need to panic. This is one of those emergency evacuation exercises the association makes us do to be sure we know how to behave in case of fire or else. It is not opened to discussion. Leave all your belongings in here. Thank you.*

She climbed down the table to be joined by Hayden, the other hearing aide apart from her.

"I didn't know we had to do these exercises" he said, quite puzzled.

"We don't. I just didn't want the children to be afraid" she replied, hiding her lips, as not to be understood by the few children who mastered lip-reading. "An animal escaped from the zoo. Authorities ask us to evacuate" she explained, using the same lie she fed Vili.

"I see. I'll get to it then."

She saw the children obediently going to their aide, teenagers with less enthusiasm than the younger ones. She herself was having her own protectees coming to her. She quickly took attendance before asking.

*Where is Kael?*

The children around her looked at one another, shrugging. She quickly surveyed the room, finding that all children had already been taken in charge by their aide.

"Come on, that cannot be happening."

Hayden was about to leave with his children. She called him back.

"Can you take these ones with you? Kaelig disappeared, I have to find him."

"What about you?"

"I'm a big girl, I'll handle it" she waved away his concern, before instructing her charges to go with the man.

Once everyone gone, she began searching her last charge in the other rooms.

A hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump and shriek.

"It's been five minutes already" Becker announced.

She sighed in relief seeing the familiar face, then blushed hard at her earlier reaction.

"Where are the others?"

"Already sweeping the other rooms."

"Fine. I'll go with them" the brunette declared, about to go past him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Becker grasped her arm a bit forcefully, forbidding her to go further.

"Look. One of my charges, a seven-year-old boy, was not with the others when I told everyone to go."

"We'll-"

"He only trusts me. I know him, he's a loner. He only attends these meetings when I'm here and he gets easily scared. Seeing men in black with weapons will probably cause him to hide and most definitely head in the creatures' direction. I have to go."

"No. Your place is with the others checking that no one-"

"But you don't understand!" the young woman cut him, signing at the same time in frustration. "He will never, ever trust you to approach him, not like that! He'll be scared to death. _I_ know him. I know better than you where he's more likely to be hidden. I'll be more efficient. In a building like this one, hiding places are infinite for kids."

"Jessica, it's not saf-"

About to argue, Becker is cut once again by Jess who freed her arm from his grasp and ran towards the cellar's door.

"Jessica!"

But the young FC didn't pay any attention to him and urged forward. Sighing, the soldier tapped his earpiece.

"Matt?"

"Problem?"

"Yes. A child is missing and Jess is gone after him in the cellar. Couldn't stop her."

"Who is it?"

"Don't know. Seven-year-old boy. Jess is positive he'd be scared of us no matter how we approach him but he'd listen to her. She insisted on the first point. He's probably hiding. Not to mention deaf. No more precisions. Anyone checked the cellar?"

"No, you'll be the first. Well, with Jess obviously. So far, we found nothing. Be extra cautious. Connor? There's CCTV in the building?"

"Nope. Too old for that. The kind with a lot of secrets passages. So cool…"

"Not that cool when you're searching for a kid, Temple" the soldier dryly cut the geek's musings, no time to get distracted. "Matt? I'm going after Jess."

"Alright. Keep me posted."

"Copy that."

Resolutely, Becker followed Jess.

Immediately, he was surprised by the darkness of the staircase as soon as the door shut quite ominously behind him. Fumbling to get his flashlight, he wondered how Jess had progressed when he was talking with Matt, not having seen any kind of light source on her.

Cautiously, he made his way down the stairs, not hearing a thing apart from the echo of his boots. On the landing, he could see a very faint light provided by a window, not bright enough to switch off his own light.

"Took your time."

Becker thanked the heavens that Connor was not there to witness his (reluctantly admitted) jump at hearing Jess's voice behind his left shoulder.

"Jess what the… how did you make your way down there?"

"With the light" the brunette answered with a 'duh' voice.

The soldier wondered briefly when exactly his FC had been gifted with cat senses to move around with so little light and to be able to sneak up on him. He did not have time to ponder on this, the woman already gone to search the room.

"Let's go."

The room had probably been a wine cellar in another life. Metallic rounded racks were taking a whole section of a wall, and there were wooden cases everywhere. Other than that, nothing that could hide a child.

"Over here."

Becker turned around to see Jess crouching facing the opposite way, analyzing something on the wall. Approaching, he saw a piece of blue cloth, and wondered once again how she could have seen this with so little light.

"He's been here."

"Yes, but he isn't anymore."

"Of course he is, don't you see?" After a pause, she reached toward his flashlight to switch it off. "Here."

Only using the natural light, you could see the wall was not entirely a wall, a shadow drawing the outline of a door built in the wall, faintly open.

"That must lead to underground corridors. This type of building is famous for secret passages anyway" Jess explained, trying to widen the opening with difficulty.

"Jess, if you can't open it further, there's no way the kid had gone this way" Becker tried to reason.

"It's wide enough for him to go through, dummy. Not for us" the FC spat a bit harshly, increasing her strength on the door.

"Here, let me he-"

Abruptly, the door gave out, sending Jess flying in Becker's arms. As quickly as she lost it, she regained her balance and went on the other side.

"Wait a minute!"

His words fell in deaf ears (pun intended).

As Becker didn't know if communications would still be working entering the tunnels, despite Jess's faith in her devices, he wanted to keep Matt up to date before following the woman.

"Matt? Connor was right about the secret passages. (Connor snorted) Jess went through one, leading apparently to underground tunnels."

"Better no moving until you have backup."

"Too late, she's been through. I don't know if communications will work underground."

"Where are you?"

"Cellar. There is a door hidden – well, not hidden anymore – in the back of the room."

"Go after Jess. I'll send backup."

"Roger."

And the soldier ran once again after the energetic brunette.

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><p><strong>AN: Words between ** are signed words.<strong>

**As for Kael/ Kaelig : in Britton, the suffix -ig is a diminutive. For example, in "Korrigan", some kind of dwarf, we can see "kor", "ig" and "an". "Kor means "dwarf" or "little man", "ig" is diminitive and so is "an". So if we wanted a clear translation, it would be "a little, little, little man". When added to a name, the suffix is also affectionate.**

**AN2: Sorry for the reupload. I tried to edit the chapter but ended up deleting it...  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Imagine a cake. A regular one. A bit dry, no appeal whatsoever. Now imagine someone icing the cake, stuffing it, adding chocolate chips and sugar decorations (like roses for example). Putting candles on it, and then thinking about the whole room, so far dim lit with white walls, to turn it into a real party room, with decorations everywhere, colorful banners, streamers and other party supplies, added to a wonderful background music.**

**I made the cake, and I thought it was alright, without being wonderful. My US friend, she did everything else: the icing, the room etc. It's totally amazing. From my original work, maybe two dozen words are left. I can't thank her enough for that. So the story is mine, but the phrases are hers.**

**She also went through the first chapter which makes more sense now, in my opinion.**

**Thanks for reading!**

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>When you think of underground tunnels these days, you're likely to think sewers, foul water dripping eerily from the ceiling, things growing quietly in the flickering phosphorescent lights, leaving you shivering in the middle of a horror flick. This door, though, opened on a smooth stone corridor, which radiated that odd dry warmth of deep underground place. The walls were covered in ornate carving, full of medieval looking knots. Along the way were torch holders, but there didn't seem to be any actual torches around, though Becker couldn't see far enough to tell that for sure past the first pair. Once, he supposed, this had been somebody's pride and joy, important. Now, it was just somewhere that time forgot, hundreds of years ago.<p><p>

Jess started off into the gloom, reverting into her feline mode, sure footed as if the place was as bright as day. Becker resisted the urge to swear and followed along. He turned down the intensity of his electric torch, determined to adjust to the gloom, but also hoping to keep from being left entirely in the dark when his batteries died. Scanning ahead of him with the dim light, he only took a moment to locate Jess, who hadn't so much as paused when he'd stopped, just gone on sneaking forward. Still, he was much taller, so it only took a few strides to catch up. Only then did he finally understand how she had been able to sneak up on him a few moments ago.

_"She never wears sneakers!" _was all he could think, faced with these alien items. _"For once, it would have been bloody useful to wear those noisy, stupid heels that make her look like she should fall over! But noooo, today of all days, she had decides to wear sneakers! Sneakers!"_

A noise in the silence forced his eyes up from her feet and he was startled to see the young woman trailing her nails on the waist-high wooden skirting board.

"What are you doing?" He hissed quietly.

"I have to let him know I'm here," she explained in a whisper, glancing back at him. His expression didn't change, so she tried again. "It's the vibrations. If he can feel them, he'll know it's me. It's my best shot at getting him to come out from wherever he is."

"Him and all the other creatures who'd sooner eat you then look at you," the soldier pointed out, tone sharp.

"Matt hasn't reported any incursion, has he?"

"No, bu-"

"Then _trust me._ I need to find Kael, then I'll let you tell me to run away."

He tried not to feel like she'd just slapped him. He also tried not the think about why he'd feel that way. He needed to change the topic. It took a minute for him to find a safe question, though.

"Who is he?"

"I told you," Jess reminded him, too distracted peering down the pitch black hall to really think about that pause. "He's one of my charges,"

"And?" Becker prodded quickly, prying at the most obvious hole in her explanation. "He means more than that, doesn't he? He only trusts _you_, and you're here, putting your life on the line just to find him. He's important to you."

Jess didn't answer, so he dug harder.

"If he didn't mean anything to you, you would have told me what he looked like, how to find him, and you would have gone somewhere you know you could help from instead of haring off like this. Instead, you're giving me nothing. You didn't even tell me why he'd run away, just that he's afraid of soldiers."

"I never said that," she countered a bit too quickly.

"You were pretty clear when you said _we_ would scare him. He's been around other people today, without being frightened by them, so far as I can tell. It's not unheard of people to not like soldiers, Jess, but they usually have a reason."

"It's not like that, exactly," Jess said, oh-so-helpfully.

This game was making him uncomfortable and suspicious. Fast. These half answers weren't right, not coming from someone who forced you to think of her with words like "bubbly" and "colorful". Words he still didn't think belonged in his vocabulary in the first place.

"It's like you're protecting him. I'm not the bad guy, Jess. What are you not telling me?"

The girl stopped and Becker nearly tripped over her, only just able to salvage his dignity as he stumbled to a stop. He watched her back, her shoulders tight, her face hidden.

"It's…complicated," she said finally.

"Then explain in simple words," he prompted her gently, trying to help.

The silence stretched as the FC still refused to face the captain. He could do patient, though, and he knew she'd break first. He was right.

"He-" she started to say.

The sound of scrapping wood was the proverbial pin falling in the quiet, giving Jess the out she'd been so obviously desperate for. Immediately, the brunette woman sprang into action, rushing straight for the noise. Becker watched with interest as she stopped in front of an unremarkable stone panel and delicately pushed it aside, revealing a blue-eyed little boy straining to catch sight of her, pressed as far back in the shadows as he could. It was obvious he recognized her though, because even Becker could see the smile that cracked the child's face as he rushed forward and let the woman crush him to her chest, once she gestured gesturing wildly in the air for a few seconds. It was also obvious when the boy saw him, as the smile vanished, hands grabbed for Jess, and the child's face vanished into her smooth brown hair. Becker stayed very, very still.

The standoff lasted only a minute, but it certainly felt longer in the dark for Becker. Slowly, though, Jess pried the boy from her shoulder.

When his face was uncovered, Becker could only watch in confusion as his FC started to move her hands in flowing gestures, quick at first, then slowing. From time to time, the boy would gesture himself, often bringing his fist to his chest in a circular motion.*

Becker wondered if this was what it was like to be deaf.

Well, actually, not exactly like what it was to be deaf, of course, since he could at least still here the young woman breathing, and knew that there wasn't anything sneaking up on him because he couldn't hear it. Rather, it was more the feeling of being the odd one out in a conversation, one where everyone else knows exactly what's going on, while he was left without so much as an instruction manual. Becker didn't scare easily, but if this was anything to go on, it seemed to him that being deaf had to be terrifying.

Still, he had to admit he was a little mesmerized by the precise but fluid movements Jess seemed to find as natural as breathing. That made it easier to watch this conversation he had no idea how to understand, but it also helped that he was a man used to reading other forms of communication as well. Right now, he had the facial expressions both of the "talkers" cycled though, and more than an inkling of what somebody searching desperately for someone would feel upon finding that person. With all of that, it wasn't hard to at least make the general theme clear: the woman had been very worried when the boy had disappeared and the boy was sorry, but she was relieved now to see him safe and sound and so was he.

The soldier didn't know how long he stood there, staring at them, watching the silent talk unfold. Eventually, though, the boy must have said something to Jess about him, as she turned her head sharply towards him, looking surprised, as if she was really only just seeing him today. Rising slowly, Jess helped the boy up and out before she approached Becker, keeping the child's hand in hers, his side against hers.

"Kael, this is Captain Becker" she said and signed, carefully spelling each letter of the new name with her fingers.

Becker knelt down to be on the kid's level and held out his hand to shake the much smaller one.

"Very nice to meet you" he slowly said, trying not to watch Jess's hand move in time to his words. The boy tolerated the shake, but was quick to retreat when released, hiding behind her legs like a child behind his mother's, peering out shyly.

"He scares easily" she explained, hands on autopilot by now. "No offense. He just doesn't trust easily."

"I guessed" the soldier said wryly, rising to his full height slowly. He couldn't help being big, but he could try not to be frightening. "You don't trust anyone around him either."

She didn't answer, but it hadn't ever really been a question. He sighed. He didn't want to be the bad guy here.

"Look, we have to get back before it actually gets dangerous around here," Becker sounded almost apologetic.

Instinctively grasping what that expression had to mean here, the boy straightened up, set his expression, and tugged Jess's hand to get them started. Becker almost laughed to see someone else pushing the young woman around for a change. Almost.

They stayed silent on their way back. Jess and Kael signed from time to time, but Becker was alright with being left outside their world for now. He needed to focus.

A sudden crackle echoed in his ear and the soldier froze, only his hand lashing out to grab hold of the brunet's arm. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Matt? I can't hear you very well. We're still underground."

"Get… said…if you… or… Becker!" Was all he could make out through the static.

"Damn wireless," Becker growled. "Matt, say that again, I really couldn't hear a word you said. Matt? Matt! What's going on?"

He didn't get Matt.

But he did get an answer.

A low growl hummed through the very stone of the corridor, rising through the thick soles of his steel toed boots.

Eyes met, and Becker could read the fear in hers, even as her hand explained something steadily to the now panicking child tugging at her clothing. The Captain braced himself, letting grim determination overwhelm his adrenaline. He knew what was coming. Jess did too, but she didn't have an EMD.

"We have to get back to the cellar," Jess's voice didn't tremble. If he hadn't been in the middle of this shit, he would have been proud.

"Jess, we don't know where the creature is," the soldier pointed out firmly, reaching for his EMD.

"No!" she gripped his arm tightly, preventing him unholstering the weapon. "I don't even know if there's a way out on the other side!"

Jess and Becker arguing was doing nothing to help the boy get over the feeling of the growl. Kael pulled desperately on his protector's hand.

"Jess, we don't have a choice right now."

Mouth open to argue, the brash young woman choked off her objection.

In front of her, blocking the path to the cellar, was the biggest creature she had ever faced. Next to this, the Dracorex might as well have been a kitten standing next to a lion. This monster wasn't even standing at its full height because of the corridor, even despite the abnormal height of the grand ceiling. And while Jess did appreciate that this thing was smaller than a T-Rex, those eyes… she was dinner, soft, chewy, delicious, and this thing knew it. She had seen enough of these beasts to know _hunger_.

"Jess, take Kael and run in the opposite direction when I say," Becker breathed. "I'll distract it."

"Now's not the time to play superhero!" she whispered back, not moving. She wondered if it mattered if she moved. Connor had told her once, in the middle of one of those "Look at how amazing I am" stories that actual Tyrannosaurus Rex's couldn't see you if you moved. Why was she thinking of that now? "I'm not leaving you here to die. Besides, exactly how do you think I'm supposed to defend us once it finishes its tea-time snack of _Becker à la sanguinaire_**? You're the one who insisted that I can't go into the field without all that stupid training!"

"Jess, that's an order!"

"And you're not my boss!" she snarled right back, startling him. She could not bring herself to care that she might just have overstepped all her bounds. She had work to do.

Slowly, she stepped backwards, Kael behind her, her sweating hand holding his smaller one too tight, the other one gripping Becker's vest so hard her knuckles were white and bringing him backwards too. Slowly, she did it again, and again, the soldier not daring to resist, fearing it would attract the killer's attention.

It was working. She could hardly believe it was working. Her head hurt there was so much adrenaline rushing though her veins. She managed to move ten meters away, hardly daring to breathe, before the creature snapped, letting out a growl. Muscles coiled, and the monster sprang at them, teeth and claws and— Becker turned around sharply, snatching Jess's hand from his vest and crushing it in his, scooping the boy up with his other arm, and he ran like hell.

It was a good thing he was very good at being a soldier, as he heard Kael's voice for the first time, shouting the one word he realized he'd been dreading hearing.

"Momma!"

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><p><strong>AN: * Becker's right. This is the sign for "sorry".<strong>

****I wanted to invent a new dish, French style, with all those meals that are "_something_ _à_ _la_ _something_". Somehow, I doubt Becker would make a good dish. Way too many nerves…**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I am so so so sorry for the delay... When my friend betas the chapters, we run through them together to be sure everything's alright but she has major Internet problems, so that brings, of course, major delays.**

**Like before, the ideas are mine but the whole decoration is hers.**

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><p>Becker could hear the creature behind them, though he didn't dare look back. The walls were shaking and groaning with each thundering step, stones cracking and crumbling as the beast's tail lashed from side to side with the thrill of the chase. Jess was keeping up alright, but Kael's weight was slowing Becker down more than he wanted right then. Quickly, he yanked on Jess's hand, still tight in his, thrusting her ahead of him as he swung the little boy to his hip, letting Kael latch onto Becker's neck with his hands, and around the hips with his legs.<p>

The woman wanted desperately to turn around and see how close her boys were behind her, but she knew this was also the surest way to slow all of them down, even if she didn't trip. Grimly, she fixed her sights on the path unwinding in front of her and ran. So long as the creature was still coming, she knew it hadn't caught them yet.

Cracks opened gaping holes along the walls which had seen centuries of abuse without complaint, widening with every tremor. It was getting closer, gaining speed, the jolts of its steps nearly knocking Jess off her feet as she tried not to think how close this building was to collapsing.

The reptile's growl vibrated the marrow in Jess's bones, but she refused to look back. Becker, though, saw its snapping jaws swing from side to side, saliva spattering the old stone, desperate to catch a bite of its prey. It was gaining ground.

They weren't going to make it, he realized, racing through yet another archway.

He would have been right, maybe, if the monster hadn't completely shattered that archway as it tore after them, and in an explosion of stone and dust and a sudden groaning of the very earth, the ancient ceiling gave way to the massive weight, no longer supported by careful architecture.

It sounded like the world was ending. Jess was sure that she'd actually died, except she could feel her feet moving under her still. Blind and choking, Becker tucked Kael's head in his collar, hoping that would be enough to spare the boy the worst of this burning that had lit his lungs on fire. Ears ringing, the man tried to listen for the massive footfalls that had been beating out his heartbeat, but he was pretty sure a grenade could have gone off under him and he wouldn't have heard it.

Jess, though, wasn't used to not being able to breathe. She couldn't just press through. Her muscles were burning, so when her foot came down on a pile of loose rubble, she stumbled, nearly fell, but really did tumble into the wall when Becker ran smack into her. For his part, the man was instantly turned around, ready for his death, even if he couldn't see it coming. He wasn't leaving Jess, so if she was down, he was done running.

The pair were silent, panting harshly, both staring into the gloom, into the dust, waiting. Long moments passed, before the woman dared to push herself to her feet, cautiously coming alongside the soldier, whose gaze never wavered.

"Listen," She said softly, her voice echoing oddly in his ears as he realized he wasn't deaf.

Senses straining, the captain tried to hear something other than the distant sounds of continued collapse from somewhere up above.

"What?" He demanded gruffly.

"There's nothing" the brunette replied, voice only shaking a little as her lips fought to smile.

"So what?" he snapped.

"Becker, there's _nothing_. Nothing. It's- I think it's dead"

But he didn't say anything, didn't confirm her statement, just waited until the dust settled, leaving her half hopeful, half terrified, silent, beside him. The clouds did eventually clear, after what Jess was sure had been hours, and Becker finally got a view of the damage. The corridor was blocked, decimated. If he hadn't just run through it, he would have sworn there'd never been an opening that way, or, at least, not one that had been useable for centuries. Given the size of the chunks blocking it, he would also swear that there was no way they were going to make it out that way. On the plus side, there was also no sign of the reptile. While he wouldn't bet on dead, not until he saw the body himself, it was probably trapped on the other side of the block. And even that creature wouldn't have been able to make it out through that mess either. They were safe, for now. The tension in the room snapped.

Heaving a sigh of relief, both adults collapsed on the nearest wall, breathing heavily. Even Kael tentatively lifted his head from where he'd burrowed it into the soldier's neck, risking a look around until he spotted Jess. Cautiously, the boy wiggled in Becker's arms, reaching for the woman. Becker released his death grip slowly, letting Jess take the child. She did so with a grin and wrapped herself around the little body, hugging him for dear life, looking like the weight of the world had been lifted from her. It was only when she started humming that Becker could stop staring at this entirely too surreal scene (who would have thought _Jess_ would be the motherly type, but there it was…) and actually get words past that lump in his throat.

"I thought he was deaf" the man remarked weakly.

"He still feels the vibrations in my chest" Jess explained softly, having lost all of the snappy attitude she had sported while searching for the boy, looking more melted and sunny than the icy warrior woman she'd been portraying earlier.

Minutes passed, hours maybe, without any of them moving. Just sitting. Just breathing. Just trying to believe that they were still alive. No one slept.

It took a part of the upper story coming crashing down a bit louder than the usual pebbles and such before Becker seemed to wake from his trance. Gruffly, he rubbed his face, spreading the dust around a little, at least.

"Time to go."

He pushed himself up with determination, turning to offer Jess a hand. She took it gratefully, still clinging to Kael, who clung to her with equal ferocity. Of course, despite her mental recovery, Jess's legs were still mostly jello, so his tug actually sent her stumbling into his chest. He steadied her quickly, balancing the three of them efficiently.

"Do you want me to carry him?" he asked, though.

"No. No, I'm fine" she answered instantly. The idea of letting the boy go was mildly terrifying just then.

Nodding slowly, Becker stayed at her elbow, rather closer than he would have dared otherwise, and set a slow pace to the exit.

"I don't suppose you know how to get out this way," he said after they'd taken four turns and walked about half an hour. Jess just shook her head, grip tightening minutely. He nodded. "Alright."

In the hours that followed, the pair faced hundreds and hundreds of meters of corridor, coupled with dozens of junctions. There was never a discussion of which way to go. Jess just trusted Becker's sense of direction. He wasn't sure whether to be worried or flattered by her lack of arguing. Of course, some of it was probably due more to her approaching exhaustion than anything else, he realized after seeing her trying to readjust Kael's position for the umpteenth time. Becker took the child from her arms wordlessly, careful to do it slowly in an attempt to not frighten either of them. He watched patiently as she took a moment to reassure Kael. Becker suspected that the explanation of transfer was more for Jess than the boy, though, since those little eyes were already half closed as he settled against the man's chest. The child was wiped out, not surprising after that sort of adrenaline rush.

Kael was entirely asleep, head lolling on Becker's shoulder, long before they reached the next split in the path. Six splits later, and Becker was watching Jess carefully as she started to sway on her feet. Her expression never changed, though. The woman was determined, he'd give her that.

"I think," he said finally, breaking the silence as they reached a room with four exits, "that we should get some sleep. Either Matt will figure something out, or he won't, but if you hurt yourself because you're too tired to pay attention, we're going to have a real problem."

He was sure she was going to argue with him. He saw the flash in her eyes, saw her open her mouth. But then Kael murmured in his sleep, shifting slightly, and her face softened entirely.

"Alright."

Becker made her sit, handed over the boy, and set up camp as best he could. Any extra clothing went into making the boy a makeshift bed, tucked in a corner. Once that was sorted, and the boy settled, Becker pulled out the little lantern in his bag, as well as what was supposed to have been his lunch and settled himself next to Jess. The woman was watching the boy as if he were going to vanished if she turned away, running slender fingers through his hair. He had to know.

"Will you tell me now?" he asked softly, moving a little closer. For heat, he assured himself. Not because he was worried she might disappear.

Defeated and exhausted, she put her head on his shoulder.

"It's not what you think," She whispered.

"He called you _'Momma'_…"

Jess snorted at Becker's careful non-question question, trying to ignore just how awkward he looked like he felt just then.

"Becker, I'm nineteen, he's seven," she said with mock sternness and a dramatic sigh. "Do the math."

"But it is poss-"

"Jesus, Becker! Glad to know how much you think of me!" She complained, a little offended, but not enough to sit up. "Did you really think I- Look, do you want me to tell you or not?

Alright, he'd screwed that up and he knew it. Becker ducked his head, embarrassed.

"Sorry," he said, abashed. She snorted, but wiggled closer. He shifted at her insistent prodding until he back was against one of the pillars lining the doors, letting her settle against his chest.

"You better be," she informed him archly, even as his arms wrapped around her waist. They were just making sure they could get some sleep, she told herself sternly when she decided she liked that feeling. They had to stay upright to make sure they would wake up at the first sign of movement, but they'd be uncomfortably cold without each other. This was being practical, she decided, watching his legs stretch out on either side of hers.

"I am," he assured her again. "Explain it to stupid old me?"

She sighed again, bracing herself. She hoped he knew what he was getting himself into, but doubted he could. Still, he deserved to know. So she told him.

"When I was about ten I think, my family got to go visit some pretty distant cousins of my mom's in France, spend the summer there. It sort of felt like a fairy tale, you know. And everything was just so peaceful. Well, I mean, relatively speaking. And exciting!" She added fondly. "We even got to join in the huge celebrations for their sort of 4th of July. Lots of firecrackers and all, you know, but theirs is on the 14th instead.

"And, I mean, there were supposed to be rules. But no one pays attention to rules about fireworks, do they? People just like blowing things up, especially when there are lots of pretty colors," Jess said mockingly. He knew this was about to head into dangerous territory, given the set of her shoulders, but Becker kept quiet. "So all the kids go firecrackers in the evening, just to keep us busy until the big ones that night. There were dozens of us running around the square, making a mess while our parents had civilized conversation. They only yelled at us every once in a while, when people got too close to setting things off on top of people.

"There was this one boy, the only other boy who spoke English, who was really bad about that. His name was David, I think, and he liked watching people jump and scream when he set things off so close they got singed. He… was not what you can call 'good company', so I tried to steer clear from him. I was afraid of him" Jess said firmly. "So I ran away from him, tried to hide behind one the stairs of one of the buildings. He found me, of course, and called me all sorts of names. Nothing that serious, but you know what it's like when you're a kid. It doesn't take much. So I started crying, ran past him back into the square, but he stuck one of those damn things into my pocket. Stupid. It was just stupid. I didn't even feel it, until it blew up.

"I mean, it wasn't a huge one, but it burned my side well enough. The worst of it, though, was the noise. Felt like my head had exploded. I mean, it hadn't, but I remember just staring at my mother running over to me. I could tell she was yelling, but I couldn't hear anything. I could see the other kids pointing and crying, but it was like watching a movie with the mute on. So, terrifying," she managed with a half a laugh. Becker hugged her a little tighter, wondering vaguely if she knew where this guy lived nowadays. Maybe Matt could find him, and they could go visit.

"The burns turned out to be mostly superficial, nothing that wasn't going to fix itself up sooner or later. My ears were a different story.

"My mom told me later that they weren't sure I was ever going to hear again. My eardrums were ruptured, the doctor had said, there was nerve damage, too much for implants, but they were going to have to wait until everything scarred over before they could tell if they were ever going to be able to do anything. I spent months with this constant ringing in my mind and headaches 24/7. It was like a nightmare, but nothing like so depressing as when they finally sent me to a school for the deaf. It was like admitting defeat, saying I was _never_ going to get better. I felt like my life was over.

"That's what it's like there, like they're teaching you a new life, not just a new language. It's not just learning how to sign or, if you're good, how to lip-read, it's also learning to be aware that you have an entire sense missing, so you really can't live your life like before. You aren't going to hear the fire alarm, or that car that's coming around the corner too fast. You have to be so careful, pay attention to everything, learn how to compensate_**. **_And you have to do it fast

"At least, since I was already ten, I knew how to speak properly, but I still had to practice. You know how people get when they're wearing headphones, when they yell without meaning to just because they can't really hear how loud they're being? Imagine that difficulty in judgment times a hundred. I was _terrified_ I was going to lose it. Then how would I even manage to interact with the rest of the world? It was hard enough just going home after school. It wasn't as if my parents knew sign language, and I didn't want an interpreter, listening to everything I said, hearing everything anyone said to me. I didn't want to rely on anyone, lose what little freedom I had.

"So I made them teach me more lip reading, and as fast as possible. For a while, they were fine with that, but then my main teacher realized I could hardly sign at all, much less understand when someone else was using it. She made them stop with the lip reading until I caught up everywhere else. I did throw a tantrum after that," Jess admitted, still watching Kael, even as her hand gripped Becker's tightly. He wondered if she realized she was doing it, caught as she was telling that story. "But I did learn them both, in the end.

"I was almost used to it by the time I turned thirteen and went to go see the doc for the annual check. I'd given up hope of anything changing. And at least I was the coolest girl in school," Jess said proudly. Becker snorted appreciatively. "But he said… he told us there was a new surgery, one that might give me back something. Not all of it, that was still impossible, he said. But it might help. Or it might mean I'd definitely never hear again. Maybe I should have worried about that more. But I was thirteen! I was invincible. So I begged my parents to let me try for a month solid. Eventually, they said okay. I remember my classmates coming to see me in the hospital before the procedure. They were making fun of my hospital gown," Jess informed Becker. "They wanted to know if I'd gone blind, too. Apparently, neon pink is not a good color on me.

"It worked," she said abruptly. "I mean, completely. I woke up, and I could hear the nurse breathing across the room. Three years of nothing, and that was what woke me up. Probably sounds stupid, but it just made everything feel real again. I could hear her breathe, so I knew she was alive, knew I was alive.

"After that, I had a choice. I could have left it all behind me, gone on like I'd been doing before the firecrackers, pretend none of it had happened. Or I could realize that even though I hadn't wanted it, the last three years had taught me so much, and were so very much part of making me who I was, that I owed it to everyone I'd met to make sure other kids could do as well as I had. One guess which one I picked," she challenged wryly. Becker kept his mouth shut, but let his eyebrow arch. Even if she couldn't see it, she felt it. Sixth sense-Becker vision. "I started going by the deaf school after my regular school for more classes, hung out with my same old friends, kept my skills up to par, and did my best to stay a girl of two worlds, I guess. Not that it took much work. It was mostly just fun.

"As soon as they let me, I volunteered to be a sort of teaching assistant for the younger kids. I suppose it was hard, at first, but it was mostly just really fun, too. I watched them when they were doing their after school activities, I got to be their friend, and I watched out for the 'new deafs', since I knew how that worked. I think it helped them, knowing that if I'd made the transition, they could too. And they weren't all angels. A lot of kids came in angry, or scared, or frustrated, but I got to be good at cracking those shells.

"And, of course, I had favorites, even though I tried not to. Kael was one of those." He heard her swallow hard before she started again, and he could hear the dip in her tone. "I was sixteen when he came in, he was four. I adored him. He was so shy at first, but he just wanted someone to love him, like any kid. And once I got him talking, he loved me right back. He used to trail after me, and a couple times, parents asked me why they'd never met my little brother before. That used to make his mom laugh. She loved him, she really did, even if she, as a hearing person, was having a hard time really using words of any sort to communicate with him.

"I know she tried to learn, but it seemed like she was working all the time. She had two jobs I knew about, and who knows how many others. Still, when she came to get him, you could tell those two didn't need things as fancy as words. Her eyes said everything she needed to. She was a wonderful woman. I used to give her extra lessons when she had a couple minutes after she dropped by, so we got to know each other a little at least. I never met Kael's dad. For a long time, I wasn't even sure if he was still in the picture. It didn't really matter to me. I was just happy to know those two.

"But then that winter Kael stopped showing up to class. His mom hadn't said anything to me about moving away, and none of the teachers had heard anything, but no one had a phone number for her either. No one heard anything, not about either of them. I worried. It's what I do," Jess added, but the joke was lost in her plaintive tone. "It wasn't until Kael's picture showed up in the paper, right before Christmas that I knew I had any right to. The pictures… I wish I'd never seen them. She'd been taking them to get groceries before dropping him off, right after a blizzard. The car had taken a turn badly, hit a patch of ice that hadn't been salted yet, spun out, hit a set of trees. She'd died instantly, neck snapped, shrapnel through her chest." Jess swallowed hard, trying not to remember the blood. "But Kael… he'd been buckled up, safe and sound in the back seat. Just a few bumps, a couple scratches. Physically, he was fine.

"But I knew he wasn't. He'd just lost the mother he adored! How could he be fine? I knew he'd have closed up even further, and I had no idea if there was anyone else he'd talk to, much less if there was anyone to care for him still! I mean, I assumed there had to be, the state would take care of that, but I wanted there to be someone close to him who understood what he would need. I nearly made myself sick worrying about it all day. When I got home and made dinner, it was all over the news. That's when I first heard about the father.

"His father was a respected policeman, responsible for a lot of the bravest arrests in the past ten years, decorated for dedication to duty, well liked by everyone the reporters could get a hold of, from neighbors to colleagues. He looked like a super hero, with his square chin and neat hair, his record of fighting the bad guys even at the risk of his own life, being loyal to the good guys, even having been shot once so his partner could get away. What more could I have asked for, I wondered, watching the man smile and hug Kael. But… there was something about the way… I don't know. I thought it was stupid at the time, but something… I still needed to go see Kael, to make sure he was okay, to try to get him to come back to the preschool.

"Turns out it was a damn good thing I did. See, this amazing father who saved the innocents, locked up the criminals, this father who smiled and waved at cameras, who cried at his wife's funeral as if it were the end of the world, this _father_ who was apparently doing everything in his power to make sure his son was safe and happy?

"He was the same father who, _blaming_ _his own son_ for the loss of the love of his life, now beat _his_ child to a pulp on a daily basis."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I apologize profusely about the delay... My friend has some problem with Internet and her chager apparently, so it's kinda difficult to keep in touch. Her is what I wrote, nowhere near what she can do with that, but I'm still posting it so that you can see where the story goes. I'll replace it by her edited chapter as soon As I get it.**

**Sorry again for the delay!**

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><p>Jess stood up and began pacing.<p>

"Due to his age, he wasn't going to school*, so he didn't have to be discreet. Moreover, who would ever suspect a cop with Honors?

"That fatal day, she was driving Kael to the association, and that bastard blamed his son for that. Deeming that if it were not for him, his wife would still be alive. While beating him, he never stopped yelling that, over and over again. At the time, Kaelig was very advanced, and he almost mastered lip-reading. When you're being yelled at with the same words, you know what they mean. So he was beating him up, then shutting him down in a room without light, and then that son of a bitch went merrily back to work, where everyone was looking up to him. He was not a drunk, nor a drug addict. He was just a controlling motherfu…a controlling jerk that, not able to control his wife anymore, decided to take it out on his four-year-old son. His poor four-year-old who never asked any of this and was way too weak to defend himself…"

She sat down at Kael's head, stroking away the hair on his forehead.

"I was worried about not seeing him, so I went to his house, and arrived at a bad time. The door was unlocked, I suppose he thought that, with everyone knowing he was a cop, he was taking no risk. I barged into the room after hearing cries and ended up on a scene that would never quit my mind.

"Kael was on the floor, whimpering, not having strength, or permission maybe, to do more. Standing, his father had a belt in his hand and was slamming it down on his back, alternating between whipping him and punching him.

"I don't know what I was thinking, or _if_ I was thinking for the matter. I just know that a moment I was standing by the door, and the next, I was over Kael's form, the belt in a hand and having just received a nasty punch on the back. That's when I understood that this wasn't just pretend. I mean, I was sixteen, and even I wanted to cry out with the blow I just received. I couldn't even imagine what it could have been on Kael's weaker body.

"The cop understood right away. He ran for the door and locked it, and I used that time to check over Kael, unfortunately not for long. The father dragged me by my arm in another room, slamming shut the door of the room we just left. And then that it became weird. As angry as he seemed during the beating, he was totally cool and relaxed, but very assertive while talking to me. I suppose this is how a cop is during an interrogation. I was in a daze, I don't think I listened to him at first. Then I caught the words _'forget'_ and_ 'never coming again'_ and I exploded. He didn't expect that. I sure as hell wouldn't let him beat his son – his _son_ for God's sake! – and turn my back as if I hadn't seen a thing. He slapped me, then had me up the wall, a hand around my neck. That's when we came to the most bizarre and insane deal I'd ever made."

She looked at Becker who had sat up since she left him, pleading with her eyes to understand her and not to judge her. She looked away.

"I didn't want Kael to be beaten ever again, but I didn't stand a chance against the highly decorated cop that was unfortunately his father. He, on the other hand, did not want me to arouse suspicions. We…_agreed_ for him not to beat Kael ever again, in exchange for my silence and my…" she trailed off.

"Your?" Becker asked, worried about the outcome of said agreement.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"…and my being available when he had some steam to blow off."

The soldier tensed, afraid to understand what she just hinted at.

"Kael was given the right to come to the association as often as before" Jess resumed with a steady voice, "and I was in charge of bringing him there and bringing him back home. Of course, as soon as most of his bruises had faded away, as not to give anything away. When I went back to his home, he was led in his room as usual, and I was taking his place for whatever the bastard wanted. Sure, he had to be cautious with where exactly he struck, but he could go at it way stronger than with his son, I could take it."

"He didn't…" the captain could bring himself to ask it.

Cocking her head to the side, Jess made for the first time contact with Becker's eyes, not understanding.

"Oh! You mean… No, absolutely not! His fix, that was power, not that kind of power, no. He didn't… No! He was… seeing us as living punching bags, not…_that_ way. He had normal relationships with women apart from beating us up. He never touched us for something other than slapping, whipping or else, fortunately."

_"'Fortunately'?"_ Becker thought bitterly.

He was more and more enraged and horrified about what had happened to Jess. As a soldier, his first thought had always been protecting the weakest, and sometimes the strongest (the latter often against their wishes). He was proud of his uniform, reminder of the protecting action he was always taking. As he had told Matt,_ 'uniforms promote public confidence'_, that was part of the reason he didn't want him and his men to go in the field without them. As a soldier, it was his duty to help, and not use the power he had to turn it against people.

He was revolted – no, he did not think there was a word strong enough to express what he felt – that a police officer, a LEO, could use his position and his strength to break down people that certainly did not deserve it. His fists were clenched, wanting to punch something – something, and positively _not_ some_one_ – but didn't want to spook any of the witnesses. They had seen enough violence to last a lifetime.

On second thoughts, he really wanted to hit someone, and that someone was the bastard who had hid under the police uniform to commit those crimes.

He knew he was sometimes overprotecting the others, his colleagues mainly, and not only because he was paid for it. But there and then, he could not find his feelings being too strong about his hate of the guy. He hurt Jess, and a child. Like Jess, he could not comprehend how a man could ever hit his own blood. Parents were supposed to protect their children. Not beat them.

His strength had always been his greatest fear. He was trained as a soldier, and that meant he knew how to hurt. While exercising his skill, he was always scared, more like terrified of going overboard, of not seeing the line between _necessary_ _force_ and what was after. He knew some of his teammates during his time in the Special Ops didn't have any remorse about roughing up a prisoner, or unnecessarily barging in all guns blazing, just for the show. Just to prove to themselves and others they were strong. Scratch that: that they were _stronger_.

The very difference between _duty_ and _right_: some often turned their duty to protect into a right to be violent.

He was looking at Jess, and Kael. Though Jess could show real demonstrations of powerful will, she wasn't any less weak physically, with her petite body and lean figure. And he could not even imagine how she had been three years ago, when she had willingly given into this monster's wish to save another life, when she had let herself be broken physically and had accepted someone else's dominance over her flesh and bones, not saying anything to anyone. He could not imagine the state she probably had been in right after one of their _sessions_, battered but showing a strong figure, protecting Kael. It was not fair. She should not have had to endure all of this, neither did Kael. They should not have had to comply with this man's violence. There should have been someone to see this, someone to take care of this. Heck, if it had been him, he would have taken them both on the other side of the planet in a blink, not caring about the consequences. Probably waiting with his favorite gun guarding the door, reading to shoot if he were to catch sight of one single hair of this man.

Jess seemed totally lost in contemplation of the young boy, most likely remembering all those times she had wished there was someone to get the both of them out of a situation they should not have been involved in in the first place. That was why the soldier was surprised to hear the sound of her voice once again.

"I could take it, I really could. I thought it was no big deal, Kaelig was safe and sound. I was protecting him and that's all that mattered. If people noticed things, I would say I got into a little fight with boys, and no one thought otherwise, I always wanted to prove myself I was the strongest, so wrestling around was a habit. But Kael wouldn't open up. It was… it was as if the situation hadn't changed. I didn't understand it.

"Until the day I went to pick up Kael a bit earlier than expected. How could I have been so blind? How could I ever believe that a son of… like him could ever respect such a deal.

"You know what I thought at that very moment? It's very childish, but that's what I thought: _'he cheated. We had an agreement, and he cheated'_. At the moment, it may be awful to say, but I wasn't thinking about Kael under his blows, I was thinking that I had been had by a cheater, something that had never happened to me before. He freaking _cheated_.

"Then I heard another whimper that brought me back to reality. I had to act differently. I knocked at the door, as if I hadn't seen a thing, took Kael to the association, and his father was none the wiser. I brought him in as usual, we played as usual, we stayed the whole day as usual. But when came the time to bring him back to the monster, I didn't. I took off with him."

Becker stared at her, shocked. Jess was still stroking Kael's forehead, as if she had not just said she attempted – pardon, _managed_ – to kidnap a four-year-old boy with a cop father.

"I couldn't count on my friends to help me, I didn't want to involve them. I didn't want to involve anyone but me and Kael. I had that perfect plan in my head, I had the whole day to think things through. I went to an ATM to get all the cash I needed in once, so that they could not track me with my withdrawing money. I checked us in a motel on the opposite side of the city, under false names, waiting to have a better solution. I bought food, enough to last a few day, but easily transportable. I was waiting the morrow to get to the airport and get the first plane out of here, as far as possible, where he could finally be safe. I think at the moment I didn't think there would be consequences, what I was doing was _right_, no one could say otherwise. I was righting a wrong. I had planned all of this.

"I hadn't planned that his father would be intelligent enough to know I had taken off with his personal punching bag so quickly. I hadn't planned he would be resourceful enough to send an AMBER alert and get his teams moving. I hadn't planned on all the little traces I left here and there thanks to CCTV and our description. I hadn't planned that, as a cop, he would beat me on all fields.

"Not nearly five hours after we had exited the center, he found us. I was desperate. I didn't want Kael to go back, or him beating me again, him lying to me about not beating him. I wasn't thinking straight. I told him I would tell everyone, absolutely everyone, that it would not be a secret anymore, and that Kael would finally be freed of him.

"That's when he drew his gun on me."

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><p><p>

**AN: *Wikip****æ****dia says that in England, unlike France, _"_****_Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive)"_****. Kael being four at the time, I supposed he wasn't going to school when his problems began.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Alright, I have absolutely no excuse for the lateness of this chapter (I could always say I was waiting my friend's editing, but it's been long I knew she didn't have time to work on it) and I can't say how sorry I am. I can say that next chapters will be posted soon, but I don't want to lie. The sure thing is, I AM going to end this story, I just don't know when. But I'll do my best to update...well, as often as needed.**

* * *

><p>The brunette stilled. She closed her eyes and drew a shaky breathe. She, who on daily basis was confronted to life or death situations (for the others), and had to think quickly, was totally and utterly panicked. She drew her knees under her chin, her arms around them, still not opening her eyes.<p>

Startled at the change of behavior, Becker joined her on her side of the corridor, putting his arms around her form to try to comfort her.

"I just became so scared, I didn't know what to do! I was used to the beatings, but a gun, no, I couldn't even think how I would get out of that one. I was feeling so proud and cocky a few seconds before, and then I went downright terrified! I just pleaded him, over and over again, I pleaded him, begged him… You must think that I had no shame, nor self-esteem, that I am pitiful and pathetic, but I didn't know what to do!" she sobbed.

Becker tightened his arms around her, rocking her back and forth, whispering some soothing noises, telling her she was wrong, that he always thought she was very strong, probably one of the strongest women he'd ever met. That he totally understood her and why she acted the way she had, and that there was no shame in how she acted. That he was proud of her now, and of her then, when she tried to stand up to that bastard who only deserved prison for life, when she protected the little one as much as she could. That it was the most heroic action he'd ever about. That she was a heroine.

His calming words and motions finally worked and the sobs subsided. She was still breathing shakily, but who wouldn't be after reliving an experience such as this particular one?

He continued holding her long after she calmed down, silence settling until she broke it.

"I was so scared, I moved oddly. I don't know what triggered it. A moment I was scared to death, the next I felt pain in my shoulder and all went black."

Understanding the meaning behind her words, Becker tightened a bit more, if that was possible, his hold on her. She just kept her head in the crook of his neck, staring into space. Wondering how she could feel so safe while talking about a moment she had felt the opposite.

"I woke up at the hospital, with people fussing around me, all talking at the same time. It was fuzzy around me. I was hearing a thousand things, but all seemed a different language to me. I couldn't remember what happened, my head was throbbing, and I couldn't feel my shoulder. Then a voice was over all those around me, and people went away, leaving just one person, the one who had talked seconds prior. I was feeling dizzy, and thirsty. I just remembered her telling me to go back to sleep, which I did.

"When I woke up again, there was no one. The throbbing had decreased, but hadn't disappeared. I tried to get up when the woman from before stopped me. I couldn't talk, and she gave me some water. Then I remembered Kael, the beating, the running away, the gun, the pain, the blackness… I wanted to get out of there, to see where Kael was, to be sure he was alright, but she prevented me from doing so. She talked me into staying still, examining me, then saying that considering the circumstances, I was freaking lucky. Seeing I couldn't remember things that had happened during after I fainted, she explained everything.

"It had been the manager of the motel who rated us out. He had had no real choice there. Two kids, one accused of kidnapping, and the cops on the other side. It was actually sensible. But seeing only one person coming to the rescue, he had begun to wonder. He'd called back the police station who said that no one knew about the info he'd given a few minutes prior. They'd sent another unit, and during that time, the manager went to our room. He witnessed the whole conversation. Turns out that when I was moving around, I'd subconsciously slid myself between Kael and his father, and that had been when he shot me. The unit arrived around the same time. The father began to tell them I was being threatening, and that he had had to fire to protect his son. The manager, unseen by anybody until then, spoke up. Told them about what he had seen. When the cops hadn't wanted to believe him, he'd shown them the room, Kael crying around me, me not having any kind of weapon, and supporting a stance that could be seen as protecting if I hadn't been on the floor. Seeing he was about to be caught, the father'd lost it. Like, really lost it. The Honor cop had begun to wave his gun around, threatening anyone coming near him, shouting about ungrateful deaf bastards that should be happy to still have a house to live in, about disabled little brats who never knew their place, well, he'd given himself away. Unfortunately for him, he was facing a team, and he was alone. He'd been quickly controlled then detained, waiting for further explanations. As for me, he shot me really really close to the heart she told me. So close that I spent several hours in O.R., and other several ones to wake up. They almost lost me twice in the process, but apparently, all was about to be alright for me. I _'just'_ needed P.T. for my shoulder, and everything would work fine.

"Social Services had taken care of Kael, who had been traumatized by the whole thing, frantically making the sign for 'shooting' over and over again. Even today, he can't see one without falling into complete panic."

"That's why you prevented me from drawing the EMD" noted Becker, recalling the earlier events, the first seconds upon hearing the growl who almost had had them.

Jess nodded.

"There was already panic at sensing us arguing and panicking, plus feeling the growl. I'm not sure I would have been able to control him then."

"Jess, he saw his father shooting you. He saw you collapsing right after, and a lot of blood. For all he knew, you could have been dead. I think it justifies the repulsion."

"I never said he was wrong. It's just…"

The soldier tilted her head to look at her eyes.

"What?"

She looked away.

"Nothing."

He groaned.

"Jess, not now. Please."

"Alright" she relented. "At first, at the A.R.C…. I mean, I never worked around soldiers before, so I just didn't realize… When you began to be around, with guns… then EMDs… I was pretty terrified too."

"You never showed it."

She laughed.

"That would've been great! The new FC girl is afraid of guns. Really. I needed that job. Moreover, I needed something to force me to come to terms with that. And it did."

Not feeling Becker reacting, Jess looked at him. He actually seemed rather interested in her left shoulder, staring at it, as if he had X-rays to show him what was underneath. Swiftly, she moved away the cloth that was hiding her scar, one of the pair she had collected after the shot. Shocked she'd seen through his silence, but not willing to dwell on it, he gently ran a thumb over the pinkish mark.

"The exit wound?"

"Middle back" she answered, turning her back to him to show.

And indeed, there was a twin mark over her last ribs. He gave it the same treatment as the first one, pondering on bubbly appearances and dark pasts.

"I was crouched when he fired. As he was way taller than I, the bullet went downwards, approaching the heart, but not enough to make irreversible damage."

He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about the outcome of the whole ordeal if _had_ actually approached the heart to make enough damage, if the bullet had taken her way, so that he would never had met her, and she would never had saved their lives on a daily basis. Life hanged on a thread, and it was easy to forget sometimes.

Little by little, he felt her heavier and heavier, until he lain both of them down like before, before knowing the whole truth about this link between the young woman and the boy.

"Jess?"

"Humm?"

"You said that you almost were his mother. What did you mean?"

"Tomorrow, Becker."

Satisfied, he settled himself for the rest, checking one last time on the younger beings tucked at his sides, before closing his eyes and letting sleep call him.


	7. Chapter 7

He didn't know how much he had slept, but neither Jess nor Kael were around him when he woke up.

"Jess?" he called, a bit worried they wandered off too far.

"Right here!" the FC answered, somewhere ahead of him.

He nimbly stood up and walked (albeit briskly) to her. There they were, palms and ears against the wall, as if listening to some noise.

"What are you doing?"

Feeling the rumble of his voice before actually seeing him, Kael steered the soldier into the same position, before talking rapidly in the air.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down buddy…"

Like a child suddenly aware he should not speak to strangers, the boy seemed to remember he was not Jess and retracted shyly behind the woman's legs. She laughed.

"He was trying to tell you you were right about leading us here. We can feel traffic. We're close to an exit."

Thinking back to the comms he had switched off the night before to avoid disturbing a sleep that all three had deserved, he made a motion for them to wait and went back to their makeshift cot and retrieved the devices. On his way, he couldn't help but think about the one-eighty in Jess's behavior. That should have been the first time he really saw her smile since they began their search. Well, when he thought back about last night's revelations, he could now comprehend why she had been so protective of the young child. The things they've both been through… He shook his head. Time to get his priorities straight. First thing: getting out of there. Second thing: knowing a bit more about it, without pushing neither Jess nor the little guy. Third thing: if possible without Jess knowing, finding that guy and teach him one or two things.

_Definitely_ without Jess knowing.

He turned the devices on while going back to his two _protégés_ (Jess would have his head if she could hear him thinking), just in time for:

"-dy hell, is no one hearing this? Becker, what's your twenty?"

Shocked, Kael jumped. With Becker and Jess smiling at their team leader's tone, the latter comforted the little boy, rubbing a hand up and down his spine, who had been surprised by the intensity of the vibrations coming out of the comm. Yes, Matt was definitely angry. And probably a tad worried.

"Matt? Matt, this is Becker."

"Bloody hell Becker! It's been more than ten hours we've tried to reach you! Where the hell have you been! We can't even detect your black box!"

Becker grimaced seeing he still hadn't turned it on. Jess laughed softly seeing him swiftly turning the box on.

"…and keeping silence radio like- wait, we can detect you now."

Bigger smile. Kael asked why, well, Becker supposed he was asking why, and Jess answered signing.

"What the hell happened Becker?" Matt's voice was still as angry.

"Just calm down-"

"Calm down? It's been half a day we've been searching for you, found the corridor collapsed with the corpse of a _*insert name that Becker couldn't bring himself to care to remember*_ and no sign of you two-"

"Three."

"What?"

"We found the child. Ergo_ 'us three'_"

Matt sighed loudly on the other side, as if trying very hard to restrain himself from throttling the soldier.

"Was that an attempt at humor Captain?"

"…sorry."

"What the hell happened?" Matt roared back. Obviously, not finding other words.

Becker went back into soldier mode.

"Long story short: we found the child in one of the underground corridors, were about to go back when a creature blocked our path, we escaped the other way when a portion of the ceiling gave out and saved us. We've been trying to find a way back ever since but stopped to rest for the night."

"And the fact that your black box was off until now?"

Becker cringed, trying to find a suitable lie. The truth was, understanding Jess had been about to tell him something important last night, and not wanting any of it to be heard by anyone else – as he didn't know exactly how black boxes recorded their conversations – he had turned it off to avoid eavesdroppers.

"I turned it off at the same time at the radio by mistake, force of habit, sorry." He met Jess's gaze that showed him how much she believed him. Not.

"Alright, can the whole of you three move? Injuries?" Matt seemed to buy the lie, it's not like Becker had anything to hide after all.

"Yes, we can move, no injury."

"Damn lucky you are with that collapsing. We need you-"

"-to go east for a thousand and two hundred meters, then take the right at the junction, and in another six hundred meters, you'll have a manhole over your head, leading to a back alley" Connor cut Matt, having studied the maps as soon as they got a signal from Becker.

"Right, a SF team is about to move to this location to retrieve you." A smacking sound and a 'oh' of pain could be heard while Matt took back the dialogue. Becker and Jess rolled their eyes at their colleagues' antics.

"No need for a SF team. We just need a car to get back" the soldier asked, remembering the earlier explanations about the child's fear of weapons. No doubt that seeing an entire team of geared up SF soldiers would freak him out. And there was no reason for such a development of force.

"Alright" the Irishman relented slowly after a pause. "But we'll need the child's full name to warn his parents. Can you ask Jess?"

The brunette woman, having heard the question, motioned him to give her the communication device.

"I'll take care of it, Matt."

"Jess? Is that you? Look, his par-"

"Matt, I know his parents. I'll take care of it."

Sensing the finality in his tone, the team leader raised an eyebrow, Becker's request added to hers being definitely out of the ordinary. But there was no harm in granting their wishes, so he just let go.

"OK, then I'll come and get you" he finished, fishing his own black box from the rack and making his way to the garage.

"Thanks, Matt" Becker answered, Jess having given him back the comm. to have free hands and explain to Kael. The boy interjected from time to time but seemed to understand the basic idea.

The soldier waited for his FCto finish, before motioning to their stuff left where they had slept.

After gathering their stuff, they began to follow Connor's earlier instructions. Becker almost jumped out of surprise when he felt a hand, probably half as big as his, shyly slipping in his own.

With nothing acknowledging that fact but a smile, Becker continued ahead without missing a beat, Kael secure between the young woman and him.


	8. Chapter 8

"So, what about _'Momma'_?"

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Becker couldn't help but blurt it out. Jess sighed.

"After what we'd been through, I couldn't let him out of my sight. Not at all. I was feeling somewhat responsible for him, wanted to protect him the best I could, do everything for him. And protecting him for me meant getting him out of the system. I was visiting him at the foster care center as often as I could. Do you imagine what it is like for a traumatized child, without any means of communication with the others none the less, to be in one of those centers? It was hell. Unfortunately, the only way for him to get out of this was to be adopted. I didn't trust anyone to do so and to take care of him like I wanted to. So I applied.

"I know, you'll say it's completely foolish" she continued seeing Becker's perplexed face. "I was still a student, with a job, not the legal age or anything, and in retrospect, I admit I should have thought longer about this. But the facts were there: he needed protecting and I wanted to protect him. Hell, I took a bullet for him! That should mean something, shouldn't it? Fortunately for me, a lot of the appliance procedure was computerized, I only had to hack into the system to get rights, change my birthdate so that I could be considered legal to adopt him and so on. I really did it. And I wasn't thinking clearly. It was an emergency for me to get him out of harm's way. Top priority. I was seeing things in a tunnel. I did not see the consequences. Just the prospect of taking care of him. With the time he spent with me, he took to call me _'Momma'_, a slightly altered version of what he was calling his real mother. It gave me wings and narrowed my vision even more. The aides at the center began to really think I was his mother, which helped me. I was so focused that I overlooked the human aspect of the procedure altogether. Social services. They understood the deception right away, I mean, I applied as _'not_ _kin'_, which was probably the biggest mistake I had done for the whole thing, and I obviously was not twenty-one.

"But then they did something I did not expect. Instead of, you know, scolding me, or sentencing me to whatever, as I not only lied on the papers but also hacked into the system, they just took me aside, and talked. Well, _she_ talked.

"Turns out they knew about my little fraud even before coming to check. They were aware of the link between Kaelig and me, and what happened after the shooting. Particularly the fact that I indeed went into P.T., but kinda avoided counseling."

Sensing they were slowing down, Kael tired of walking and not exactly well rested with what happened the day before, she made a motion to scoop him up but he surprised her when he turned to Becker with his head cocked to the side, as if asking permission. With a smile not far from the playful _'eh, he wants ME to carry him, not you'_, Becker obliged, and they resumed their journey, the boy now secure on his hip.

"I must say, you avoiding counseling would have been a shock for me a few days ago, but right now, I can easily see you doing that, Superwoman" he chuckled.

"Hilarious" she answered with a tone that noted the contrary. "I didn't need people poking around my brain to allow me to live freely. I just had an idea: Kael, me, alone, our life without anyone around. I know it sounds irrational but that's what I really wanted at the time."

"You had seen people meddling to make things worse. It doesn't sound irrational to me."

Jess smiled gratefully.

"Well, to anyone else it looked irrational. So, this woman, she just took me aside and talked. She talked about the incident at the motel, about the arrest and the hospital, about the fact she knew something had happened _before_ the whole ordeal, something that no one knew because my _over_protective behavior towards someone else and not myself was leading people away from the fact that I had been abused myself. She knew that would make me react, and it did. I denied, trying to draw back the attention to Kael's case, but she was having none of it. The argument escalated on and on until I was the only one shouting and she was there, smiling knowingly. So stupid. I totally fell into the trap, and she had what she wanted. Me talking. It took what, half-an-hour? I had resisted to everyone before, and it just took half-an-hour for her to crack me up. Unbelievable."

Becker refrained from laughing at her face, the one of a sore loser. Jess elbowed him gently in the ribs.

"Anyway. She got me talking and I got everything off my chest. Between the deafness, meeting him, his mother's death, his father, what he did, what I tried to do, what I was still trying to do…everything. I never felt so vulnerable. And I've never felt vulnerable again until last night" she averted her eyes, sensing she had somehow given herself away. Becker thought better than to comment.

"So I basically confirmed everything she knew or suspected. Once I finished, she assured me first that I would not be sued for what I did. That even the government could be interested in those skills, but that would come later. Then she tried to logically make me understand the probability of me taking properly care of Kael, money-wise, against the probability of a couple with good situations had. The way I still had to go to be able to look after him properly, and above all, what loss he could have being away from everyone, as in a golden castle, if I did what I wanted to do. Clever woman. Instead of telling me that, she made me realize it by myself. And it worked.

"She gave me rights to see him at the center _legally_, while keeping me up-to-date with his situation. She was not supposed to, but it was like she knew I would try to know otherwise without taking the legal ways.

"So I was sharing my time between the job, the studies and him. We were closer than ever. People at the center were now surprised to hear him still calling me _'Momma'_ now that they knew I wasn't. But we didn't care. I played with him, talked with him, reassured him. I also tried to make him go toward other people, children his age. He didn't understand at first, he wanted to stay with me, to be protected like I had overdone it before. But as difficult it was for me to let him go, I remembered the social worker's words about shutting him out from the world, and knew he needed to see other people to heal."

She took a deep breath, causing Becker to look at her concerned.

"Then came the moment I dreaded: a couple was interested into adopting Kael. I said nothing, but he understood, you know, like, felt I was upset even though I didn't want to show it. The parents went to see him, he made a scene. The social worker called me to calm him down. The parents knew what he'd been through, and knew I was somehow involved without knowing the specifics. They understood completely that he was afraid of them and that I had been called in reinforcements. Very understanding people. I took Kael aside, and we talked. New people, new _'parents'_ – he was not over his mother, that was understandable – new relationship with me, separation… We talked for what, two hours? That was a lot of change to take in. He didn't want anything to change – me either – and he didn't want to be in the same situation. I persuaded him into giving these people a chance, as I would be by his side for the whole thing. Back with the soon-to-be parents and the social worker, I practically interrogated them. Now that I think about it, it was pretty out-of-line, me a teenager interrogating them as if they were suspects… But they complied! They did! They understood I needed to be sure, and they complied. They wanted all the best for Kael, and they considered that making me at ease with them was one of the steps.

"Turns out that they were – they _are _– good people. Very good people. Once the adoption sealed, they took the both of us to see where Kael would live now. Between the house, his room, the school, the daycare center (they were aware he needed to see more children his age), we saw everything. They knew if they put me at ease, it would put Kael at ease too, sort of by proxy. They let me sleep in their house for a week, to facilitate the transition. When he was having nightmares, almost every night, he was coming to see me. I could accompany him to school and all, while still keeping my schedule. At the end of the week, we talked some more. While the couple wanted me to stay as long as Kael needed me, I knew if I didn't go on my own, I could be staying there forever, and it wouldn't help.

"So I just went, sure now that he was in good hands, promising him that I would be at a call away."

Becker seemed to absorb everything, well aware of the private nature of her confessions, afraid to say anything that could make her regret her decision to share. He was already happy to be deemed worthy of knowing what was the exact nature of the link between the both of them, worthy of being entrusted with such a piece of their history. Well, their whole history actually.

"What does his moth-"

"Guys? You here?"

They both snapped their heads upwards, Kael following with a delay. Matt's outline could be made out through the manhole, the sun high behind him.

"Guys?"

"We're here" Becker yelled back.

"Well hurry now, wouldn't want to miss lunch, would you now?" the Irishman joked.

Setting Kael back on the floor, he motioned for Jess to take the lead on the ladder.

"With Kael between us, if he slips I stop his fall, and you'll be the one welcoming him up here. I trust Matt, but _he_ doesn't."

Sensing the logic, she nodded and began the climb. Soon after, Becker set the child on the ladder, and brought up the rear.

After a few minutes, Jess was welcome by a familiar Irish accent.

"God, Jess, next time both of you want a field trip, care to warn us beforehand?"

Jess let out a laugh when he helped her to the surface. Blinking against the harsh light of the sun, she failed to see when he made a move to help the next in line. At Becker's warning for Matt to wait, she turned back to the manhole to pick up a scared Kael. Matt said nothing, but his raised eyebrow could convey his curiosity.

Finally, the four of them were standing on the surface, Matt replacing the cover over the manhole.

"Car's this way" he cocked his head toward the entrance of the alley.

He lead the way, but not before eying the unusual trio behind him.


End file.
